


Day Three: Cour de Leon

by AXEe



Series: General Danvers Week 2017 [3]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - World War II, Day Three: Historical AU, F/F, France - Freeform, French Resistence fighter Astra, General Danvers Week, Nazi Lillian Luthor, OSS agent Alex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2018-11-28 07:29:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11413134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AXEe/pseuds/AXEe
Summary: Cour de Leon was one of the nicest little villages in France.  It's heyday being the middle of World War II...





	1. Welcome to France

**Author's Note:**

> Day three of General Danvers Week! Enjoy! :=)

******

**France**  
**The height of the Nazi occupation…**

Alex grunted as she landed a bit too roughly in a field. Glancing around at the surrounding farmland, she slowly let out a breath as she realized that neither she nor the plane had been spotted. Swiftly unbuckling the parachute harness, the OSS agent checked her bag for her supplies and then, orientating herself, began to head east towards the small village of Cour de Leon.

Originally, before the Nazis took over and the Vichy regime, the village had been a sleepy little hamlet best know for its bread, its wine, and a rather surprising number of cabarets, and even now, despite the Nazis and the Vichy regime it remained known for that, except now it was also a major base of operations for the French resistance, in particular the _maquisards_ , organized bands of guerrilla fighters who hid out in the wilderness and staged daring raids on both the Nazis and Philippe Petain’s own regime.

Slowly creeping down the hills into the village, keeping a wary eye out for German patrols. Silently creeping up to her destination, she knocked once on the door. There was a click and the door swung open slightly, one grey-green eye peering out

 **[** Yes, what do you want? **]** a woman’s voice demand

“Jabberwocky” Alex hissed out, the one grey-green eye widened

 **[** Looking Glass, **]** the voice replied tiredly as the door was held open **[** get inside, **]** slipping inside Alex could hear what sounded like muffled jazz and talking. Looking around she found that she was in a wine cellar of some sort; dusty bottles lined equally dusty shelves which were propped against equally dusty walls

 **[** Americans, always late, **]** the woman said. Turning, Alex gulped as she took in a tall woman with long dark hair with a streak of white in it. Dressed in a tailored tuxedo that seemed to hug every curve, she made a striking image

********

“So,” the woman sighed in slightly-accented English “you’re the American cowboy who’s here to rescue us poor, defenseless French, are you?”

********

“Rescue?” Alex echoed “no, I’m—”

********

“No! Exactly!” the woman spat “for three years! _Three years!_ We have been fighting them, and then, here you come, promising us salvation,” she spat on the ground “the last American who was here was working for the Nazis,” she explained “his treachery led to the death of four of my people before we found out. Once we did, I happily slit his throat” she hissed

********

Alex swallowed, took a breath, and finally spoke

********

“I’m not here to ‘rescue’ anyone, I’m just here to do my job; help the resistance, nothing more” she explained as a door in a corner suddenly opened 

********

**[** Astra! Customers! Important-looking ones! **]** a voice called out

********

**[** I’ll be right there, **]** the woman sighed. She turned back to Alex, looking her up and down “can you serve drinks?” she finally asked

********

******  

********

In what seemed like a matter of seconds, Alex was dressed in a simple, but nice looking outfit, and serving drinks to the patrons of the club that she found herself in. Most of the patrons seemed to be Nazi officials and their counterparts in the local government, as well as a few locals looking for a good time, an impossible task, given that the Nazis were watching the town very closely. They knew that Cour de Leon was an important bed of operations for the resistance, it was just that they couldn’t prove it.

********

All of the resistance members they’d captured had either committed suicide or died during interrogation before they could reveal anything useful, and the rest of the townsfolk played dumb, many opening cursing the resistance for bringing trouble down upon their heads

********

Which is why the Nazis had brought in some big-wig from Berlin to help clean things up

********

“Her name is ‘Luthor’,” Astra explained in hushed tones as she opened a bottle of wine and began to pour it into a glass “a high-ranking member of the SS, Hitler’s top interrogator,” she smirked as she handed the glass to Alex “try not to spill this on her dress,” she warned “Mademoiselle Luthor has been know to torture people for far less”

********

Taking the glass, Alex managed to serve it to the mysterious woman (who had barely acknowledged her existence, which Alex was extremely grateful for) without too much shaking. Thankfully, Luthor had one of the last customers of the day and the club quickly shut for the night

********

“All right,” Astra sat down at the bar, taking a portrait of Napoleon off the wall and turning it over, revealing a map of the town on the back “the others will be here in a moment,” she explained “now, listen up, American, if anything goes wrong tonight I _will_ kill you”

********

“I believe you,” Alex nodded “and I have a name, it’s ‘Alex’.”

********

“Until I deem you trustworthy you are just another arrogant American, understood?” Astra countered as the door opened and several of the club’s employees walked in and gathered around the table “now then,” Astra began, nodding towards the map "here is our objective…"

********

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OSS: 'Office of Strategic Services', a World War II American spy agency, would go on to become the CIA after the war ended. Anyway, this is all I have for now, but I am thinking of building on this one for some time later, either hope you liked and let me know what you thought, and keep an eye out for Day Four :=)


	2. Peace and Quiet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Here's the updated version of "Day Four: Cour de Leon" I've been talking about, please enjoy and let me know what you thought! :=).
> 
> Update: In an attempt to be historically accurate, the words 'negro' and 'colored' will be used here to refer to black characters, specifically James and, later on, Hank/J'onn.
> 
> While no longer PC by today's standards they were often considered the 'polite' terms to use to refer to anyone who was not white or Asian (you don't want to know what they called people of Asian descent back then) back then at the time this story takes place. Regardless, I apologize in advance I cause/will cause anyone offense, please know that this is not my intention, thank you
> 
> Now, then, please enjoy :=)

******

As the resistance group moved through the darkened cobblestone streets towards their target—a telephone exchange—Alex had to wonder about the motley collection of people she was walking alongside.

First, there was ‘Kara’, Astra’s niece. A cheerful, bubbly blonde, who didn’t speak a lick of English, but somehow made herself understood to Alex.

With Kara, came her husband, a tall Negro man named James Olsen, who was an expat American who’d moved to France sometime in the late-‘20s after he was unable to find a job back home. Apparently he’d been a rather successful photographer before the Nazis invaded—which was how he and Kara had met, she’d been one of his models it seemed.

In a rather ironic twist, James couldn’t speak French at all (which made Alex wonder how he’d managed to survive living in a tiny town like Cour de Leon), but somehow he and Kara were able to understand each other despite not speaking the same language.

Bringing up the rear was a young woman named ‘Lucy’, the group’s explosive expert. She spoke very good English, apparently having had a dalliance with an American solider before the war, and—oddly—she was also James Olsen’s ex-girlfriend, apparently part of the reason James had moved to France was to follow her, and then he’d met Kara, and the rest was history.

Lastly, there was Astra. The leader of the group and the most mysterious. All of her background that Alex was able to pry out was that after her sister had died in a fire, she’d taken Kara in and raised her as her own, aside from that she might as well have been a ghost.

Up ahead, Astra held up a hand, the group stopping at her silent command. She turned back to the group and nodded to the guard on duty

“Kara,” she nodded, then grabbed Kara’s arm as she moved forward **[** don’t hit him _too_ hard **]** she cautioned in their native French

Kara nodded “ _Oui,_ ” she grinned as she smoothed out her plain black dress and then, adding a little _swing_ to her hips, sashayed up to the guard, stumbling in the heels as if drunk and ‘accidently’ falling so that he’d be forced to catch her

“Oh, this’ll go well” Alex muttered, as the guard turned and caught Kara with a surprised exclamation in German

“You underestimate my niece” Astra smirked as Kara quickly, and easily, sucker punched the guard unconscious with one quick blow. Grinning as she shook out her hand, she waved to the others

Alex turned to Astra, a little gob smacked “I guess you were right” she muttered as they hurried up to Kara, Astra and Lucy quickly dragging the unconscious guard over behind a pile of trash, adding a few boxes on top of him for good measure

“ _Allons-y_ ” Kara grinned, gesturing to the door, as James leaned in and gave her a quick, affectionate, peck on the cheek

“That’s my girl” he grinned as Kara blushed prettily

Lucy rolled her eyes good-naturedly at Alex as she quickly primed her bag of tricks as Astra knocked on the door, readying her pistol, a Luger most likely stolen off a dead German, as the door opened and a man, presumably the telephone operator, leaned out.

He had just enough time for a look of shock and surprise to cross his face before Astra coldly pressed the barrel of her gun to his head and pulled the trigger, the man’s motionless body slumping to the ground moments later.

Kara let out a clear curse and began to clearly berate her aunt as Astra coldly kicked the body aside and nudged the door open. Alex’s grasp on French was pretty good (it was why she was picked for this assignment after all) and from what she could tell, Kara was berating Astra for killing the man, while Astra contended that he was _‘a German’_ and that was all that mattered

Alex grimaced at that, granted she had been trained to kill, and she even had had need to do it in the past, but she’d never done with such a frightening amount of coldness.

“Here!” Lucy thrust a bundle of dynamite into her hands, and Alex shook herself off and set the charges. The overall goal of this mission was to destroy the exchange and cripple—albeit temporarily—the German communication network before the Allies could arrive. As she set the charges Alex had to admit to herself that she had some doubts about the invasion of Normandy, she doubted that so brazen a plan would actually work.

Of course, the alternative was seeing the Germans march through London and then onto North America.

“All set?” Astra asked

“Yeah,” Alex hooked the last wire and set the hands of the alarm clock being used as the timer “let’s go!” she hissed as the group sprinted out of the door and dove for cover. Exactly half a minute later the shed exploded in a brilliant burst of pyrotechnics, bricks and pieces of burning wood flying every which way, the shockwave knocking Alex and the others off the feet

 **[** Check over there! Quickly! **]**

“Uh-oh” Alex sat up at the distant yell in German

“Time to go” Astra declared

“ _Allez! Allez!_ ” Lucy ordered, hauling Kara and James to their feet and shoving them down the alleyway

 **[** There! Stop them! **]**

Alex dove behind a wall as machine gun fire erupted. Drawing her pistol she quickly popped out and fired off two shots, the three German soldiers ducked for cover themselves and returned fire

“I thought this town was supposed to be nice and quiet!?” Alex yelled over the hail of gunfire

“It was,” Astra chuckled as she grabbed Alex’s arm and dragged her down the alleyway, the German’s peppering the walls with bullets all the while “welcome to Cour de Leon…”

******

They made it back to the club just seconds behind the others, having quickly lost their pursuers in the rabbit’s warren of alleyways and backstreets that littered the town. Slipping in through the back of the club, Alex frowned as Astra chuckled

“You did well, American” she praised

“Thanks,” Alex drawled. She rubbed at the back of her neck and groaned “is there anyplace to sleep around here?” she asked

“Upstairs,” Astra replied “that is if you don’t mind sharing a room with me”

“What happened to ‘until I deem you trustworthy’?” Alex wondered

“I have,” Astra shrugged “now, if you wish to continue to argue the point, you can always sleep on the floor in the storeroom with the rats”

Alex smirked “I’ll take the room…”


	3. Peas in a Pod

******

The second floor of the club was host to several rooms, six in total, with a seventh being a shared shower and toilet. In addition to Astra living above the club, so did Kara and James and Lucy, all of whom worked at the club in some capacity and all of whom had lost their homes when the Nazis invaded.

Lucy’s home had been ‘confiscated’ by the Nazis for use a lookout post, as it was on the coast overlooking the English Channel, while Kara and James’ home had, sadly, been looted and then burned by German troops, as the Nazis didn’t appreciate their mixed marriage.

It was only by sheer luck that they were both able to avoid arrest and were able to find a home at the club.

Now standing in what was Astra’s room, Alex felt very uneasy. Not because she’d be sharing a bed with another woman, that had never bothered her (which was slightly worrisome), no, it was that she was sharing a room with _Astra_ that made her stomach do flips and cartwheels

“Alex?” she turned to see Kara standing in the door, watching her uncertainly **[** are you all right? Why are you in my aunt’s bedroom? **]** she asked

“Oh, uh, your aunt’s letting me bunk with her for the night” she explained

Kara frowned, tilting her head at the American confusedly. Alex sighed, while she could _understand_ French very well, speaking it on the other hand caused her tongue to tie itself into knots. Mentally groaning she tried again

“Uh…Astra is letting me sleep here tonight” she said slowly, using plenty of hand gestures and miming. Kara nodded, smiling, although whether she actually understood Alex was up for debate

 **[** Kara, go to bed **]** Astra ordered as she slid past her niece carrying a bundle of blankets and a pillow

Kara nodded **[** Yes, aunt Astra **]** giving both women a funny look, she slowly shuffled on off to her own room

“I’m sorry about that,” Astra apologized in English “she means well, but sometimes she acts as if I am the child and she is the parent”

“I get it,” Alex nodded “so…who gets the bed?” she asked uncertainly

“Unless you want the floor, we’ll share” Astra explained

“Share?” Alex squeaked. Share? Share a bed? Occupy the same space as Astra? Be in close—very close—proximity to Astra?

“Of course,” the Frenchwoman shrugged “the floor is frighteningly cold at night,” she tossed the bundle of blankets at Alex “I’ll be in the shower down the hall if you need anything” she said and left Alex to simply stand there…


	4. Chapter 4

******

Sleeping with Astra was…interesting to say the least, actually it was some of the best sleep Alex had. Waking up the next morning, she shuffled downstairs to find the bar empty, unsurprising as it was a Saturday morning. Lucy was cleaning up, dusting the bar top, while James was filling up the stockroom, going back and forth carrying big boxes with Kara's help.

Astra was sitting by the bar itself, a disassembled radio on the bar

“ _This is the British Radio Network, at the tone the time will be eleven forty-five,_ ” there as a chime “ _message repeats in…_ ”

“…forty-five seconds,” Astra echoed in a passing imitation of the announcer’s voice “thank god for English precision,” she muttered as she smirked at Alex “did you sleep well?”

“Actually…yeah” Alex admitted

“Good to hear,” James remarked with a chuckle “I hear she snores”

“Do you like having a job, James?” Astra chuckled as the radio crackled to life again. Astra quickly readying the pencil in her hand

“ _This is the British Radio Network for the 14th of September, 1944. Today’s weather, partly cloudy across the English Channel with some rain. Temperatures are at forty-five degrees with some rain. Hertfordshire and Devonshire both report rain with low humidity. Temperatures are expected to climb to a low fifty degrees by early tomorrow morning. This is the British Radio—_ ”

Astra turned the radio off

“Got it. James?”

“Right,” James pulled a wine bottle out one of the boxes he was carrying and, taking a penknife from his pocket, very gently slit along the edge of the label, peeling it off and handing it to Astra “every third letter and every first vowel”

“Right, the Sunday decryption sequence,” Astra muttered as she took a second piece of paper and began to decrypt the message “ _merde!_ ” she swore

“What is it?” Alex asked. Scowling, Astra held out the note to her

_Allied High Command. American Fifth Armored to invade Cour de Leon. Tuesday, dawn. Assistance required. Disable enemy communications_

“Great,” Alex sighed “didn’t we just do that last night?” she muttered as a knock came at the door. Everyone froze, Astra pulling out her Luger as she approached the door

 **[** We’re closed! **]** she called out

 **[** This is the _Gestapo_! Open up **]** a voice ordered in German-accented French

Astra swore under her breath as she quickly hid her pistol and opened the door a crack **[** Yes? Came I help you gentlemen? **]** she asked

In answer, the door was violently kicked open and two Gestapo officers marched in, weapons at the ready

 **[** Now see here…! **]** Astra roared, she stopped, mid-sentence as the mysterious Mademoiselle Luthor walked in

“ _Gutten tag_ , Mademoiselle Inze” she greeted…


	5. Our American Cousin

******

Alex watched from the relative safety of the stairwell as Luthor marched into the room. There was a frightening amount of confidence in her body language. She held the power, she could order them all to their deaths with a flick of her finger if she so wished.

She lingered at James, pausing to examine him with a smirk before she returned her attention to Astra

 **[** One of our telephone exchanges was bombed last night, **]** she began in slightly accented French **[** one man is dead **]**

 **[** It has nothing to do with us **]** Astra scoffed

 **[** Yes, yes, **]** Luthor began **[** we’re well aware of your policy of asking your patrons to ‘ _leave the war outside_ ’, and of your townsfolk claiming to want to be friendly with the victor of the war. This club has become a favored establishment amongst our men for that very reason, **]** she flexed her hands almost impatiently **[** we both know that any assault into Paris, and indeed into Germany, will have to pass through this valley, so I ask you; what do you know about the bombing? **]**

Astra smirked **[** Nothing, **]** she replied **[** except, perhaps, that war is a terrible, bloody business **]**

Luthor smirked **[** Of course, **]** she chuckled, her smile never reaching her eyes **[** one final question, who is she? **]** she pointed at Alex

 **[** Her? A new barmaid, **]** Astra replied evenly **[** you can question her if you wish, but I warn you, she’s none too bright, keeps dropping glasses. If fact yesterday, she spilled a very fine vintage all over the floor **]**

 **[** And _how_ did she come to be here? **]** Luthor inquired, marching up to Alex and studying her closely

 **[** An old family friend from America, **]** Astra replied **[** she sent her here in the hopes that we could improve her education. But of course, the minute she arrived it seemed your people came in. In fact, I didn’t even know she was here until she arrived a few days ago from Sainte Claire **]**

Luthor frowned, her eyes narrowing, before she straightened up and barked out an order for her men to leave

 **[** Do stop by later tonight, **]** Astra called out after her **[** the first round of drinks are free if you leave the war outside **]** she reminded her

Luthor merely scowled and then stalked out, slamming the door behind her violently.

Everyone took a slow breath in the sudden silence that followed

“That was way too close for comfort” Alex muttered

“Agreed,” Astra nodded. She fixed Alex with a look “if anyone asks you are a recent arrival from America, an old friend of my niece’s whom she met while she was traveling there”

Alex nodded “Got it,” she glanced at Kara “have you ever been to the States?” she wondered

“ _Non_ ”

“Great” Alex muttered

“All right,” Astra held up the note “the Americans are due to invade two days from now,” she explained “now, how are we going to assist them?”

“That’ll be hard,” James nodded “the radios and everything else is in Nazi headquarters”

“Yes, that could be a problem,” Astra nodded “Lucy, I want you to take a little trip to the country. Go and see Mrs. Monet, ask if you can pick some oranges from her grove, and be sure to ask her for her ‘special crop’.”

Lucy nodded “ _Oui_ ”

“Take the American here with you” Astra added, nodding at Alex

“Hey, ‘the American’ has a name you know” Alex objected as Astra turned to Kara and James

“You two, let’s get this place ready for tonight” she instructed

Still fuming slightly, Alex turned to Lucy

“What’s the ‘special crop’?” she wondered

“Ah, Mrs. Monet makes marmalade,” Lucy explained “and some of it has a very strong kick”

Alex chuckled…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Interesting fact: "Our American Cousin" was the title of the play that President Abraham Lincoln was attending on the night of his assassination by John Wilkes Booth


End file.
